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Jul 5, 2007

How I almost blew myself up once

This post has been inspired by Jacob Da Jew's post on the topic.

I remember we used to buy all these illegal fireworks. One year my brother and I bought a few things and it included, for the first time ever, a quarter stick of dynamite.

We went to the park during the night, so it was pretty empty. The park is a big one with a few large residential buildings of condominiums on the other end.

We found an empty garbage can, one of those metal circular types. We were pretty nervous about this dynamite, not knowing what it could do. We lit it and threw it in the can.

After a few moments nothing happened. Of course, as kids do, we did what nobody should ever do. We went to look at why it did not go off. We stick our heads into the can. Sure enough the fuse was still burning and was nearing the end.

We ran, but we were still pretty close to the can when it finally went off. I remember being lifted into the air and being thrown to the side with all the wind being knocked out of me. It looked to us like the building at the other side of the park were shaking, but that, thinking back, was probably just a kids imagination after the excitement and shock.

We picked ourselves up and drove off as fast as we could!! We were afraid we would be in so much trouble!

I wonder if any of my brothers remember that one...and if they remember the story the same way as I do..

26 comments:

  1. Great story! The more I learn about you and your brothers, the more surprised I am that you survived your childhood period!

    And having brothers, I'm willing to bet that the only real regret you had about the incident was not having a video of yourselves being thrown through the air. ;-)

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  2. yes i do!!!

    but, what rafi doesn't know about is the time I almost blew up my dads car! he wasn't there that year. I finished a night of explosions at lerner park and started to drive away. I thought I'd be cool and lit a "1/4 stick" - yes, a 1/4 stick o'dynomite! NOT an m-80 (those are for kids! lol and toss it out the window. OOOOPS. hit the edge and bounce d back in. I freaked. I grabbed it and tossed it out the window and swore I'd never do that again. and that was the last strong firework I ever lit.

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  3. we used to play at lerner and have bottle rocket fights. we'd each stand at one end of the park and light the rockets and aim it towards each other. that was fun. sometimes one went sideways and crossed the street and bounced off the pate glass window of a house. or we'd toss it in the air, and uh-oh, it spun and came right back at us.

    we also took a 1/4 stick, emptied a city garbage can, steel, and lit the stick, put the bags back on top and ran. kablooooeeeee. garbage went everywhere. it was like a cannon shot.

    ahhh, the memories!!!!

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  4. I still have 4 1/4 sticks at my home, in a jar, in my basement. the explosive is probably dead, but, it makes a cool keepsake.

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  5. yeah - those were the days now known as pre-youtube....

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  6. shaya - I did not know about the stick in the car!! you would have been so dead!!

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  7. I wonder if dad will read these stories..

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  8. Where the heck did you guys get dynamite?

    Cool Story, Rafi.

    Thanks for the link.

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  9. Yeah.

    I don't play with fireworks anymore. Nowadays, when I do something stupidly dangerous the potential reward has to be better than a big boom.

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  10. My first thought when I saw the headline was "oh crap, rafi decided to go jihad ?" lol

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  11. me too -- i learned that lesson after getting married.....lol

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  12. I'll throw my hat into the ring...
    I once almost blew up my parent's kitchen (if you listen to my brother's version of the story) with a few matches.

    (Bonus: New neighbors had moved in that day, and that was their first memory of me, which they still remind me of almost 20 years later!)

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  13. jacob - there were two ways we got them. one is from workmen who would come into my fathers store. Before the ho9lidays there were always a few who would come in selling illegal fireworks. They must have gotten them out of state or who knows where.
    The second was when we would go to visit relatives in Atlanta. We drove a lot back then and never flew. As soon as we would cross the Tennessee State border, there were all these fireworks stores, and we would always stop to buy some. Even though it was illegal to bring back in to Illionois, at least we bought them legally...

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  14. yoni - how'd you do that? did it include a leaky gas stove?

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  15. dan - that's right. Nowadays it would take more than just a "boom" to tempt me....not much more, but more..

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  16. elchonon - I almost included such a reference in the post....lol

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  17. LOL @ Shaya! Remind me never to get in a car with you.

    Rafi - figures you bought them in Tennessee. My home state...

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  18. your home state? wow, you really are from all over...

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  19. wow. as i am reading this i just heard a big boom. i don't know yet if it just thunder or a july 4th left over, but it was really loud.

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  20. I swear - I was not anywhere nearby!

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  21. Rafi - Yep. I was born in Virginia but spent most of my childhood in Tennessee. I still consider it home. Seattle was just supposed to be a road trip. hahahaha!

    And for the record, I'm not sure I believe your last comment. I think Ari may be onto something... ;-)

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  22. Shaya, old dynamite gets unstable. I think you might need to get the bomb squad to get rid of it or talk to an engineer... really.

    http://www.bombthreats.com/web/ResExp.asp?Cont=c
    writes that: Removal and on site disposal of 90 year old dynamite from an old blacksmith shop.

    90 year old Dynamite This 90 year old dynamite was located in an old blacksmith shop. Juveniles had broken in through a rear window. They narrowly escaped death as they crawled past this jar, located less than 2 inches from the edge of the counter. Had the jar been knocked off the work bench, it would have detonated, and killed anyone within 10 feet.

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  23. Sounds like an M80...not real dynamite :)

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  24. jameel - which story sounds like an m80? I remember my story was with a 1/4 stick of dyno.....

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  25. And now Dad knows! And you guys aren't much more mature now than you were then.

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